Ahead of its shutdown this summer, President Donald Trump and the First Lady attended a performance Tuesday night at the Kennedy Center- and were greeted with boos, along with some cheers.
According to The Daily Beast, the president and first lady were “greeted by a mixture of cheering and booing at the Kennedy Center” when they arrived for a performance of the musical “Chicago.”
President Trump enters the Kennedy Center to loud cheers. Some boos, but the crowd drowned them out with more cheers. He’s here to see the premier of Chicago. pic.twitter.com/Ww6OE3Ns3L
— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) March 31, 2026
The appearance by the president comes a few days after the Kennedy Center, which Trump’s hand-picked board sat to rename the “Trump Kennedy Center,” was hit with layoffs, ahead of its planned two-year shutdown. Earlier this spring, Ric Grenell, a longtime Trump loyalist, was removed from his position as head of the center.
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“The exact number of those being let go was unclear. But among the layoffs are two staffers — Nick Meade, who served as vice president, and Rick Loughery, who served as executive vice president — who were top advisers to Trump ally Richard Grenell, according to a person familiar with the layoffs granted anonymity to discuss personnel moves,” Politico reported earlier this week.
Breaking News: Bill Maher, a critic of President Trump and political correctness, will be awarded the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize. https://t.co/cPVMkDMlMc
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 26, 2026
In February, Trump had announced that the Kennedy Center would shut down for two years, starting in July, to undergo renovations.
“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, the president said in the February 1 social media post.
More recently, the Kennedy Center announced that comedian Bill Maher, a longtime Trump foe, would receive this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The White House has denied initial reports that Maher was the honoree, but the prize has since been officially announced. The honor will take place on June 28, days before the two-year shutdown begins.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
